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Growth and mechanics of ’plants on a chip’
Plant growth is a complex process depending in part on the hydraulics and mechanics of the plant cell, that has been modeled by Lockhart (1965) and Ortega (1985) using a description still used today. To study it experimentally at the cell and organism level we developed a microfluidic system to follow several individuals growing in parallel under the same controlled conditions. Our biological model is Marchantia polymorpha, a bryophyte capable of growing in aqueous media and whose asexual reproductive cycle produces numerous, genetically identical gemma. They are close to flat, and during the first few days of growth they are millimetric in size. This makes them ideally suited for observation in a microfluidic chip. With this system we have access to the dynamics of growth, and to hydromechanical properties of the individual using osmotic chocs as a mechanical solicitation, with a high throughput and statistical power. By using perturbation treatment and mutants we aim at a more complete understanding of the interactions between growth and mechanics in plants.